FJG short listed for The Law Society 'Excellence in Social Responsibility ' Award

A Colchester law firm has been short-listed for a major Law Society award in recognition of its wide range of innovative legal support services for disadvantaged groups and also for work within the local community.

Fisher Jones Greenwood LLP is one of just five firms throughout England and Wales to have been short-listed for the Law Society’s Excellence in Social Responsibility Award. This award will highlight best practice and innovation in social responsibility and community engagement on the part of the legal profession. The honour results from innovative work across three different projects with which the firm has been engaged.

The Tendring Outreach Scheme , a free legal advice service, has already won two awards - the Business in the Community Awards 2007 - East of England Pro Bono Company of the Year award, and the solicitors’ organisation category of the prestigious Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards. Operating from the Citizens Advice Bureau offices in Clacton and Harwich, the scheme offers specialist legal advice on housing, community care, family law, education law and welfare benefits, as well as training to voluntary workers to raise awareness of the legal rights of their clients.

The second scheme, Lawyers for Young People (LFYP) has been providing legal advice directly to young people, particularly those in care, leaving care, and others needing specialist legal advice since January 2006. The scheme has developed drop-in services in youth organisations throughout Essex and in Ipswich, to enable young people to have early and easy access to legal advice.

Finally, as a member of the ProHelp network, a Business in the Community scheme, Fisher Jones Greenwood LLP has also for many years undertaken pro-bono work offering free professional advice and support to charities and community groups in Colchester. Most recently the firm has helped Colchester’s Youth Enquiry Service to secure new premises in Head Street and a group of local residents to save the Straight Road Community Centre from redevelopment.

Senior Partner at Fisher Jones Greenwood Tony Fisher said: “This is an outstanding achievement for us, especially as the four other firms to have been short-listed for this award are all major City firms. As a firm engaging in both private and publicly funded work, as well as pro bono international human rights work, we believe we are unique. We attribute the wide diversity of our client base to a combination of our lawyer’s legal expertise and their unstinting commitment to vulnerable groups of clients and engagement in the local community. These are at the very heart of the projects which have secured us this short-listing.”

The Law Society awards will be announced at a special dinner in London on 25 October.